This is a perennial question employers ask when hiring slows down. Should I go to campus, continue with college or local career fairs? Is there value in maintaining my brand and connection with potential recruits? Will candidates want to engage with us even though we’re not hiring at this moment?

The answer is a resounding YES! YES! YES!

In a recent survey of Gen Y, we found out a couple of things:

• 1 out of 5 of Gen Y respondents would be less likely to apply to jobs simply because the company ceased to have a presence with candidates. So invest in your brand.
• 67% of students want employers to come to campus for info sessions and speaking events, even when not hiring.
• Majority (78-81%) want employers to be upfront about whether they are hiring or not. Be transparent.
  
• 94% of students and grads said they would like to maintain relationships with employers through virtual means. Gen Y clearly wants to keep the dialogue going.

So go and be present, if you can. If your budget doesn’t allow for face-to-face this year, find other ways to engage opportunistically, leveraging your interns, online. For tips on how to build and maintain relationships virtually, download our Gen Y Insights report. Whatever you do, just don’t “go dark”!

I often hear employers struggle with how much time, effort, energy, budget etc. they should spend on building their brand. In the Gen Y space, we asked candidates what they thought.

91% of Gen Y told us they believe a company’s brand is important when applying for job and internship opportunities. They also believe recognizable brands convey growth, potential and stability. When asked why they want to work for an established brand, Gen Y responded:

• 76% said an established brand offers growth potential
• 74% said it will build my resume
• 73% said it will provide greater job security

Fortunately, only a small fraction (8%) of respondents said they wanted to work for an established brand simply because “my friends will think it’s cool.” Any higher and I would begin to worry about this generation.

We also heard 42% of Gen Y prefers to apply to companies which they / their friends / their families have heard of before, signifying that brand awareness is critical for employers. Take a quick pulse and if many Gen Y haven’t heard of you, which could be the case if your company is in business-to-business markets, then you have some work to do.

Taking brand loyalty even further, 39% said they would take a job with a well-known company solely to have the name of the employer on their resume. Now that says a lot about the power of brand.

So if you find yourself wondering about whether to invest in your employer brand, refer to these stats and remember that your brand drives the hiring results and the preference that you seek.

Continuing on the Career Influences survey from last post, I also wanted to share what the 1100 students and grads said about what had the most influence on their majors and careers.

• 37% said the information they were exposed to (specifically industry info) had the most impact on their choice of majors
• 41% said school, work or other experiences (specifically internships) had the most impact on their choice of careers

I also found out that 60% of students believe they have majors that are directly aligned with their preferred career (good for them!).

32% (the largest group) want to learn about possible career paths from employers through experiences - project work, competitions and internships. They want to “experience” what it is like to work for a particular employer - even if it is just sampling the kind of work that the company does. We do some of this with employers through our Exclusive Experiences program, but there are so many ways this can be done, from mini-competitions to problem-solving challenges.

Perhaps even more importantly, 51% of respondents want to be inspired (people, goals and challenges associated with career paths) AND be informed about careers (information about growth opportunities and career paths). Employers, listen up: remember to keep both in mind (e.g. marry the eloquent speaker with some interesting facts) when creating career outreach programs to maximize the appeal of your career opportunities.

Many employers are starting to reach out to students as early as high school. Others like NASA have educational programs in place for kindergarteners on up. This got me wondering when do students make decisions about majors and careers. And what inspires them? To address these questions and many more, I fielded a survey, received over 1100 responses from college students and grads, and this is what I learned.

• 54% decided their major in college
• 46% decided in high school or earlier

Of the 54% who decided their major in college, 68% proceeded to change their major. Of the 46% who decided their major in high school or earlier, only 19% went on to change majors. That’s pretty amazing, that means ~37% of all respondents knew what they wanted to major in before college and stuck to it.

Even more incredible, for those employers who are worrying about STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), 61% of respondents in the engineering, sciences and technology career paths, decided their major in high school or earlier, and 89% of them stayed with the same major.

Those are pretty compelling facts to cultivate talent as early as you can - for some employers, reaching freshmen may be sufficient; for others, you may need a high (or even middle) school strategy as well. Clearly, waiting for senior year is too late!

(stay tuned, the next post will cover key influences on majors and careers)

“Gen F.” Have you heard of or seen this term? A colleague recently shared an insightful post from Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 blog on WSJ.com, The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500, which spells out how the Facebook Generation – a.k.a. Generation F – will ultimately change the face of the workplace. Companies that don’t get it, Hamel argues, will miss out on attracting the best and brightest and may be setting themselves up for a harsh reality if the Gen F contingent is missing.

Gen F, Gen Y, the Net Kids, Millennials. Whatever you call them, the next generation workforce will comprise half of employers’ headcount budgets within the next 10 years. And if you’ve been reading my last few Talent Insights posts, you’ve also gotten the (not so subtle) sense that these young professionals thrive on social media and new technology. Add these considerations together, and I think Hamel pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Last month, more than 250 college students and young grads took our Web 2.0 Technologies Survey and told us some pretty telling things. The survey focused on collaborative and community-based online media – social and professional networking sites, widgets and gadgets, wikis, blogs, podcasts, video, etc. – and their role in the workplace.

Nearly all respondents, at 94%, reported using social networking sites. Yet when it comes to other new technologies, the largest numbers of Gen Y spend only an hour or less each week on sites liked LinkedIn, blogs and micro-blogs (think Twitter) and video chat apps like Skype. Interestingly, 20% of respondents said they use new media to make new business contacts or learn about career opportunities.

Factor in work and the numbers get more compelling, and employers especially should take note. Forty-two percent of Gen Y told us they use or plan to use social networks at work. A substantial 90% of this same group believes Web 2.0 technologies will make them more or just as productive at work, and nearly the same number – 82% – said they’d be happy to coach their older counterparts on new media if the training was needed. (Incidentally, our Facebook Fan Page members told us just as much, too.)

With cost control being top-of-mind for just about all of us, and given the tendencies of the Facebook Generation, employers have an opportunity to potentially boost productivity – and save money – by setting Web 2.0 and social media standards at the workplace. At Experience, for example, we all rely on Skype for IM and video conferencing. Personally it saves me time when I can just fire off a quick question to a coworker who resides two floors below me. Not that IM is cutting-edge revolutionary, but you get the point: simple measures add up and make a difference.

After looking at industries that had the most jobs a few weeks ago, I wanted to know how certain industries stacked up in terms of applicant preference and interest. So I polled 6700+ Gen Y and asked how 9 industries compared in terms of overall appeal. Why these nine? I wanted to present industries that hired a wide spectrum of students and grads (healthcare and education tend to hire for specific skills sets and certifications).

As expected, technology and new media topped the list with 40% or more citing these industries as most attractive. Interestingly, liberal arts majors were just as interested in these industries as business and engineering majors, which signals the broad appeal of these types of companies.

I attribute their interest to the engagement that Gen Y has had with web 2.0 and social media and the fact that tech firms haven’t been mired in the recent Wall Street bank collapses and mortgage housing crisis that we have all been watching for the past 6+ months. I expect that these firms will have the “pick of the litter” this year in terms of talent.

On the other end of the spectrum are the least attractive industries - insurance and manufacturing. Two older industries with perceived slower growth and therefore less opportunity for Gen Y. The survey data clearly suggests that companies at the bottom of the list have a brand perception issue that they need to combat, because there are fast growing, exciting opportunities to be found in these sectors.

I can’t help but think that students and recent grads are overlooking companies in these areas simply because of an overall industry perception issue, rather than what one prospective firm can offer. A perfect example of this is GEICO, the fastest growing auto insurer in the nation who continues to take market share and win awards for best customer service. And I know for a fact that they continue to hire all types of majors to grow their business. Or if you look at the Inc. 500/5000, there are 400 manufacturing companies that make the list as the fastest growing private companies in America.

Of course, all companies need to put their best foot forward when recruiting, visiting campus etc. The challenge that these less attractive companies face is finding the right aspects of their business and company culture that appeal to Gen Y (stability, training, CEO that started at the bottom rung) that allows them to compete effectively with those in the top industries.

When I was a kid, when someone was telling me something I didn’t want to hear, I used to cover my ears and sing the theme to The Flintstones. These days, with the economy in the state that it’s in, the tunes from my childhood are resonating in my head – a wish perhaps to block the headlines we’ve all become accustomed to hearing over the past half year.

Millennials, on the other hand, while realistic about the current financial landscape and how it impacts their careers, are not covering their ears. Experience’s latest survey is telling us Gen Y is adapting to changing workplace situations by bucking conventional wisdom and doing what it takes to stay ahead - and remain positive - with their career prospects.

Last month, nearly 1,650 college students and young professionals took our 2009 Economic Impact Survey. We measured the impact of the US and global economies on Gen Y’s attitudes towards higher education and career paths. In the face of economic recession, many millennials told us they feel bullish about the overall job market: half (50%) say their employment or job prospects are positive. When you compare this stat with general population polls, like the latest NBC-Wall Street Journal survey which covered the economy in part, the confidence level of young adults significantly outpaces Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers. And in a related light, 37% of students and alumni say their college education will be even more valuable now and in the years ahead given market conditions.

Gen Y’ers are also shifting their expectations — and our common perceptions — about how they will tackle the workday in order to keep their jobs. Respondents told us that they’re prepared to work more hours to improve job security (33%) and take on more projects or help colleagues with their work (30%). Another big shift: two-thirds (67%) of young talent are more likely to stay in their current job. Though that now may be a given, it’s quite a departure from the 70% job hopping contingent I discussed last year in A Look at Life After Graduation.

Employers seeking entry-level talent want to get everything they can out of Gen Y, especially in tough times. At the same time, while doing what they’ll need to do to stay employed, young adults are concerned about career development: more than a third (35%) of respondents expect fewer professional development opportunities. To better attract millennials and to reduce attrition, managers should emphasize training programs and help Gen Y carve clear career paths within their organizations.

On a related note, last month we unveiled our 2009 Gen Y Trends report and video which detail what organizations can do to better connect with millennials in today’s climate, including leveraging Web 2.0, providing agile feedback and  building loyalty. Check it out at http://genytrends.experience.com.

With company layoffs announcements in the news every day, I decided to take a closer look into our jobs database, which at any time has around 200k postings, to see what industries are still hiring.  Not surprisingly, there are healthcare jobs to be found - over 30k across the U.S. Right after healthcare is engineering, finance/banking, education and technology. Given how hard the Wall Street finance sector has been hit, one might not expect to see finance/banking ranking third, but smaller banks, insurance companies and some financial services companies are still looking for entry-level talent.  Education is another bright spot with K-12 and universities looking for teachers, instructors and trainers.

I also compared industries by their relative competitiveness. The finance/banking sector, one area significantly impacted by bankruptcies and rescue mergers, has the highest applies per job, indicating many candidates chasing the positions that exist. On the other hand, healthcare with plenty of jobs is the least competitive, highlighting that there is still a tight labor market in that sector.

What we won’t know for a while is how President Obama’s stimulus package will impact certain industries (education, energy, healthcare etc.) and spur job growth. In the meantime, know that some of the industries that Gen Y is interested in are the same ones that are still hiring.

On a related note, we recently published a whitepaper entitled “Y Gen Y: Maintaining Access to Top Talent” to inform employers about the importance of the Gen Y generation to the future success of their business. Even in a downturn, it really does pay to think about the long-term. Watch the video, download the tips and share your advice with other employers.

Earlier in the month, I hosted a presentation at Experience’s client conference that focused on the so-called “Net Kids.” I discussed common Gen Y traits (namely their comfort with technology) and Web 2.0 media, and why combined they all matter in setting effective career services strategy. Citing the Experience Online Usage Survey we ran late last year, I suggested in my presentation there’s a clear opportunity for social networks– a key Web 2.0 component — to make a serious impact on those of us who live and breathe all things Gen Y careers, not to mention the candidates themselves.

Love it or hate it, social networking is here to stay. The biggest player by far is Facebook, of course, with its 130 million (and growing) active users. Half of these active users access it at least once every day.

In our survey (which I detailed last month in “What’s The Use”), respondents were asked to check off a list of the social networking sites they use. An overwhelming 85 percent of Gen Y surveyed reported being active with Facebook. MySpace was a distant runner up, followed by LinkedIn.

Being social on social networking sites is of course the primary focus, but those of us looking to connect with Gen Y — employers, college career services, alumni associations and everyone in between — have an opportunity to use these networks to engage young professionals on their terms, and on their time. More than a quarter of our respondents indicated they use social networks in the context of careers, whether it’s hunting for jobs, making new business contacts or staying in touch with co-workers. In our current economic recession, career-related activity on Facebook and the rest will only increase come spring and summer.

On a related note, Experience on Tuesday announced the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads, a top 20 list of the leading employers that “get it” when it comes to recruiting, hiring and retaining Gen Y. Many of the organizations highlighted in Best Places fully embrace and support social networks at the workplace. They’re committed to fostering communities and affinity groups (professional and social) at the workplace through new media. As a result, they’re fostering a more productive work environment by building trust between younger workers and managers. Check out the report and get some ideas for yourself.

Did the past four months just completely fly by or what? It wasn’t that long ago we began blogging about the data that drives Gen Y and careers. As I look back at the batch of posts, I have to shamelessly admit I’m entering the holidays with a strong sense of optimism for the new year. Even in tough times, our discussions on Talent Insights have consistently demonstrated that Gen Y on a whole is determined to “make it work.”

Whether it’s taking the steps they need to take to explore career paths and find new jobs that they love, staying engaged with the political process on the heels of a new administration or remaining steadfast with their commitment to social concerns, millennials in 2009 have nothing ahead of them but opportunity. And generally speaking, that’s really how they see things: through a lens of promise and hope.

We’ll be taking the next few weeks off and will return in January with more insight to help you do what you need to do better - whether it’s finding that next great candidate, finding that next great job or anything in between. In the meantime, stay warm (especially to all of our friends here in the northeast), rest up and get ready for 2009. It’s going to be quite a year.

Happy Holidays!